How to report a possible food poisoning issue?

[bloomcruisers]

Again, I simply wanted them to have the incident recorded. If they get other complaints they will know they have a problem. Hopefully they care enough to have someone check temperatures, and whatever records they have as to how old it was and how long it had been out, and whatever other checks are done to ensure food safety.
She has been sleeping most of the day. We picked up Gatorade. And she ate some toast and a banana. I don’t believe a doctor visit is necessary for her recovery and we aren’t looking for any kind of compensation so no Dr note is necessary for anything. I am counting on Disney caring enough about their visitors to investigate. That’s really all I can do.

 

[CarolynFH]

Again, I simply wanted them to have the incident recorded. If they get other complaints they will know they have a problem. Hopefully they care enough to have someone check temperatures, and whatever records they have as to how old it was and how long it had been out, and whatever other checks are done to ensure food safety.
She has been sleeping most of the day. We picked up Gatorade. And she ate some toast and a banana. I don’t believe a doctor visit is necessary for her recovery and we aren’t looking for any kind of compensation so no Dr note is necessary for anything. I am counting on Disney caring enough about their visitors to investigate. That’s really all I can do.

I’m happy to read DD is doing well. Hopefully if anyone else got sick they’ll report it too. BTW not getting any follow up from the food safety folks doesn’t mean they ignored the report. And OTOH don’t be surprised if they do contact you and want a lot more information.

 

[Becky2005]

I'm so sorry this happened and I'm glad you reported it. If no one says anything, they won't know but if they get several complaints from others, maybe they will look into it.

 

[brockash]

My primary goal was to get Disney to check the gelato and pull any that might not be safe to eat. Trying to avoid others getting sick if the gelato was the cause. As I posted, we SUSPECT it to be the cause since she alone ate it, it tasted odd, and the timing of symptom onset.
I emailed and received the auto response thanking me for contacting them. Hopefully they will check it.

Thank you for reporting it. I was surprised to see soooo many posts that were not helpful in getting you the info. you asked for.

I will say, my guess is Disney will take it seriously and check it (even without a swab of the daughters insides lol). My mom got violently sick after eating at a restaurant at Universal (one of the resorts resorts) and they were very attentive and asked all sorts of questions about what all she ate, time (what others ate in the party that didn't get sick) etc.

 

[CarolynFH]

they were very attentive and asked all sorts of questions about what all she ate, time (what others ate in the party that didn't get sick) etc.

Yes, those are essential components of a food borne illness investigation. So @bloomcruisers, don’t be surprised if you’re contacted and asked similar questions.

 

[erinch]

If you do make it to a park today, you could also stop in guest relations and ask n if they could get the info to Epcot. Since Disney doesn't own the gelsto place, and it isn't the same day they're not likely to do much, but you could gove it your best shot.

 

[Mle8308]

Hope she is feeling better! I did read a few days ago that there have been a high number of cases of norovirus going around at Disney. Most cases of foodborne illness take 12-24 hours to present (again, not all, but most), and temperatures of the food need to be above 45 degrees for at least 30 minutes. With gelato, that doesn't seem to fit since it would have been all melted at that temperature. But who knows?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This is the second case of this I’ve read on here in two days. Other posters are correct in that a GI bug may have been brewing when she just happened to eat the gelato right before things exploded. It is definitely going around WDW right now. And hand sanitizer doesn’t work on GI viruses, you need to vigorously wash hands with soap and water to prevent their spread.

But the answer to your question is that you report to the Dept of Public Health. In this case it would be Lake Buena Vista.

1. Florida (Orange County/Lake Buena Vista area)
The public health services for the Lake Buena Vista area (including Walt Disney World) are managed by the Florida Department of Health in Orange County (DOH-Orange).

Florida Department of Health in Orange County (.gov) +1

• Location: While they have multiple locations in Orange County, the primary administration is in Orlando (407-858-1400).

Just talking to the nurse there may help answer some questions. They can possibly send someone out for testing if enough people have a similar complaint OR if your daughter’s stool sample shows something bad and she identifies that as a possible culprit. They will then take samples and see if there’s anything untoward in the gelato (like salmonella or listeria, etc). I know that yogurt and ice cream machines have to be cleaned very carefully to prevent illness. I’d imagine Disney is very careful with this, ie cleaning standards high.

Three members of my family were part of a multi-state outbreak of food poisoning. Twenty six people were hospitalized, and two actually died. I thought for sure I knew what the culprit was. Called the DPH, no one else had similar complaints. Daughter was admitted to hospital w bloody diarrhea, screaming in pain. Stool sample showed pathogenic EColi, which is an adulterant in food and requires strict investigation. DPH showed up at the hospital asking us lots of questions. Next suspect was apple cider, that only daughter had drunk. DPH tested it - nope, not that, either. Then another family member got sick and hospitalized (and before it was over, we had a third). This time DPH showed up at our house and went through the fridge and freezer. Voila! Found the culprit (frozen hamburger), which they did genetic testing on and matched it to all the other people sick, in that way were able to trace it all the way back to its source, which was a slaughter house. Point being that even when we think we know what caused a GI illness, we can’t always be certain unless testing is done of both the product and the specimen from the sick person, as well. You might want to have her seen at Urgent Care (to make sure she’s not dehydrated, they would likely give her a bag or two of fluid) and also give a stool sample. Bad things in food are often accompanied by diarrhea that’s quite bloody.

I hope things work out for her and that she’s on the mend. If it is something like Noro, it’s likely that some of you might get it, as well, before this is over. We were at WDW recently and my DH got sick (vomited, couldn’t eat, slept all day). My daughter and I, both nurses, debated about a few things it could be (likely noro or heat exhaustion), but we thought we should probably take him in in case it was a heart attack or something. Sure enough, doctor there said either noro or heat exhaustion couldn’t tell for sure, really, as he checked the boxes for both, but big thing was no heart attack or anything like that. They gave him two bags of fluid, some nausea medicine and we were on our way.